The kids love building and creating. I do it on a grand scale, planning engineering challenges for 60-70 kids. I am fortunate that my middle school helpers love helping prep these activities. They fill baggies with candies for temperature labs, measure yarn so each student get's 18 inches, wrap masking tape around popsicle sticks, etc. They are life savers and I am so grateful!
The kids love the challenges so much that they like to go home and do science. I love this! When a child tells me they love science... I swoon. Yes, learning and loving science are two of my main goals in the classroom. I am working oh so hard to experiment and meet the NGSS (Next Generation Science Standards) that have been adopted even though curriculum is slow in being adopted. I love it when the kids hurry to line up to come to class and tell me how excited they are. It really fills my bucket.
So go ahead, keep the excitement going at home:
Have a building box with:
Great ideas for what to put in your box are here:
Teach Outside the Box
Another great site with ideas is: Here You can download a FREE sample set of Stem Stick Challenges to get you started.
Don't forget about Steve Spangler! I love his experiments and how he include videos. I am a visual and hands on learner. He is just so fun!
(I just got a shirt that says "Farmtastic" so that is why everything is -tastic like "Camptastic" and "Stemtastic." I just can't help it right now!)